The bad times of slot play

We are at the end of the year – well, three months from the end – and I’ve wanted to take a look at the tales told by our fellow slot players about their good, bad and in-between experiences on those infernal machines.

So, let’s start with the bad first; then hit the in-between in November and end the year in December with the good. I enjoy hearing players talk about their experiences and I am sure most of our readers enjoy it too – and probably also enjoy telling their own personal tales.

DEMANE: The worst thing that ever happened to me was about two years ago when I had a pretty good week in my business. So I thought, “Hey, let me go to the casino and relax and have some fun.” I also figured that my good luck that week would hold over and I would make a killing – okay, maybe a little killing – at the slots.

It’s a four-hour drive for me to the casino, but when I got there I didn’t just jump into the game. Instead I walked around the casino and coolly looked at different machines and then I picked one. I walked up to it and I was so confident that I would go on a hot streak and never stop.

I never started. I got blasted from the very beginning. I mean you tend to lose more spins than you win but you usually get some hits. I got no hits in 10 minutes of play so I switched to another machine. It was almost as bad. I think I won 20 bucks and lost about 200.

So I switched machines again. I went down the drain again. Any wins I had were small but my losing streaks seemed to last for hours. I took a break, came back and got killed.

I was going to spend the night at the casino but I finally gave up and headed home. I have never had a worse time in the casino. The slot machines were so cold I thought I would get frostbite.

MARIA F: I have been pretty lucky over the years playing my quarter slot machines. I am not ahead but I am not losing too much either. But this one time, it was horrible, just awful.

I went to my favorite casino where I get good comps and the slot manager even knows my name and looks to give me stuff. It is all very nice.

But this one day I got there early and my room wasn’t ready yet so I went into the casino to look around and spotted that my favorite machine was not being played, so I rushed over there and took a seat.

Two hours later I was down just about the whole amount of money I had brought to play with. I would go down, down, down and then I would win a decent amount and I figured I was now going to make a comeback. Ha! Ha!

I never made a comeback. I think my wins were just the machine teasing me like a matador teases a bull.

I wound up playing the nickel slots and I blew the rest of my money on them.

AMY: I don’t know what’s worse, losing money or having a big-mouthed player next to you winning and rubbing it in. I think the rubbing it in. This guy was a real creep if you don’t mind my English. “Oh, yeah! Oh, yeah!” he’d scream. “Another winner for the kid.”

Sure, he was some kid like I’m seven feet tall. The guy was probably 75 years old and sagging all over. I was going back and forth but I was actually slowly heading downhill.

“You don’t seem to be doing so good, lady,” he laughed. “You gotta know how to pick the machines. I picked this baby right here.” He patted his machine as if it were his puppy. I felt like banging his head against the machine if you don’t mind me saying so. He could see I was losing, probably because I would sigh at times, I’m not completely quiet at the machines.

I finally got up and went to another machine on the other side of the casino and you know the way this ends, right? Yeah, after about a half hour of more losing who should sit next to me but Mister Big Mouth!

He said that he had drained the other machine of all its money and now he was going to drain this one too. And the rat did too. Here I am losing like crazy and this idiot just keeps winning and laughing as if his good luck is how he planned it.

LOUIS: I am not ashamed to say it, but I love the slots. My friends play craps and blackjack and some of them play roulette. I am a slot man. In fact my original nickname when I started going to casinos was slotman. But the women I dated would laugh at that nickname so I went back to my real name.

The worst time I ever had in the casino? I made the mistake of drinking so much that I have forgotten most of it but when I woke up the next morning I realized how much I had lost. I just have vague images of the night before.

I’ve stopped drinking when I play. That alone has saved me a lot of money.

Frank Scoblete’s newest books are I Am a Dice Controller: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Craps!, I Am a Card Counter: Inside the World of Advantage-Play Blackjack! and Confessions of a Wayward Catholic. Frank’s books are available on Amazon.com, Kindle, Barnes and Noble, and at bookstores. Visit Frank's website at www.frankscoblete.com.

This article is provided by the Frank Scoblete Network. Melissa A. Kaplan is the network's managing editor. If you would like to use this article on your website, please contact Casino City Press, the exclusive web syndication outlet for the Frank Scoblete Network. To contact Frank, please e-mail him at fscobe@optonline.net.

Frank Scoblete is the #1 best-selling gaming author in AmericaFrank Scoblete is the #1 best selling gaming author in America. His newest books include Slots Conquest: How to Beat the Slot Machines; Everything Casino Poker: Get the Edge at Video Poker, Texas Hold'em, Omaha Hi-Lo and Pai Gow Poker!; Beat Blackjack Now: The Easiest Way to Get the Edge; Casino Craps: Shoot to Win! and Cutting Edge Craps: Advanced Strategies for Serious Players.

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